Credit Cards

To get the most out of a miles or points balance takes work and often quite a bit of effort. People with busy lives and families to look after generally don't have the time or energy to deal with all of that and this a big reason why cash back credit cards are so incredibly popular and why the Blue Cash Preferred Card is a card that would work well in most wallets.

Generally speaking, if you want a credit card that offers impressive earnings power you have to be prepared to pay for it and, in a lot of cases, paying for it means taking on annual fees of at least $495/year. Not with the Ink Business Cash Card from Chase.

Just a couple of years ago, the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card was just another co-branded business credit card that offered a good earning rate at Marriott properties and a few good benefits too. Then, in late March 2020, came a small but key policy change that made the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card an invaluable tool for anyone seeking easy Marriott Bonvoy status.

The American Express® Gold Card is a key card in Amex's Membership Rewards ecosystem as it offers the best earning rates out of any American Express card in select major spending categories. It's a card that offers valuable benefits that help cardholders offset the annual fee and as it earns a currency that's transferable to an impressive variety of airline and hotel loyalty programs, it's a card that can help cardholders make significant savings on aspirational travel bookings.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is one of the cards that gets a lot of people started in the miles and points world, and when you consider the card's relatively low annual fee together with the benefits that it offers and the power that the card has to make other cards even better, that isn't particularly surprising. In fact, I think so highly of this card that it now has a permanent place in my wallet.

Something that most people reading this article will probably know is that every quarter, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ credit card and the Chase Freedom credit card (not open to new applicants) offer bonus points for spending in select categories to cardholders who register their cards after the quarterly categories have been announced.

When it comes to spending at US supermarkets and spending with the major streaming services, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express offers the best rate of cash back out of any card on the market. Add to that the good cash back rates for spending on transit and at US gas stations and you have one of the best cash back cards around. Ordinarily, this card costs $95/year to hold, but right now you can try it out without having to pay an annual fee in your first year.

Chase has recently unveiled new welcome offers on its IHG Rewards credit cards. The IHG® Rewards Premier credit card has had its welcome offer raised to 175,000 points (the all-time highest points offer we've seen on this card) and the no annual fee IHG® Rewards Traveler credit card has had its welcome offer raised to an incredible 120,000 points (also a highest-ever offer). In the right hands, both cards can be excellent additions to a credit card portfolio and with these increased welcome offers they're clearly worth a closer look.

There aren't many credit cards that I consider to be "must-have" cards for any serious miles and points fan, but the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is definitely one of them. This card comes with no annual fee and is one of the more rewarding cards you'll find for spending in non-bonused categories.

Chase issues two IHG Rewards co-branded credit cards and while the premium card usually gets most of the attention, this post focuses on the less often discussed no annual fee IHG Rewards Traveler credit card which is currently offering a fantastic welcome bonus and which gives cardholders one of the most valuable IHG Rewards benefits around.